Cabinet cover pull and hold latch



Jan. 20, 1970 c. H. LITTLE 3,490,804

CABINET COVER PULL AND HOLD LATCH Filed May 16, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

CARL H. LITTLE ATTORNEYS Jan. 20, 1970 c. H. LITTLE 3,490,804

CABINET COVER PULL AND HOLD LATCH Filed May 16, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J lo 24 INVENTOR.

CARL H. LiTTLE QMQM A TTORJ EYS United States Patent 3,490,804 CABINET COVER PULL AND HOLD LATCH Carl H. Little, Jamestown, N.Y., assignor to Weber- Knapp Company, Jamestown, N.Y. Filed May 16, 1968, Ser. No. 729,721 Int. Cl. Ec 19/14 US. Cl. 292240 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A latch mechanism for the cover of a burial casket or the like, featuring an improved combination pivot and slide linkage arrangement interconnecting the latch actuating lever and the latch cam device. Also, the mechanism is of improved external configuration thereby contributing to the overall ornamental appearance of the combination, and is operable with improved facility.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to pull-down and hold-down latch devices for burial caskets of the so-called sealer type; or to pull and hold latches for other type cabinet closures, or the like. Specifically, the present invention relates to further improvements in latches of the type referred to in co-assigned earlier Patent Nos. 3,035,862 and 3,145,040; and application Ser. No. 532,153.

As in the case of the prior patents aforesaid, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved latch which is structurally simple and easily manufactured; and which may be assembled on a casket or the like with utmost facility; and which when so mounted will occupy a protected and inconspicious position beneath the overhanging edge of the gasket cover when the cover is in its closed position.

Another primary object is to provide an improved latch device as aforesaid which avoids any appreciable tendency to cam the casket cover in any horizontal direction when the latch is being operated to pull the casket cover down into casket-closing and seal-compressing position.

Another object is to provide an improved latch device wherein the handle moves in a plane normal to the plane of oscillation of the latch cam; and which is therefore operable with improved facility.

Another object is to provide in a latch device as afore said, improved means for holding it against being inadvertently released.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification, and the accompanying drawing wherein:

THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a casket and cover therefor; and of a latch of the present invention shown in operative position thereon and holding the cover thereof in closed position;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the device of FIG. 1 taken as suggested by line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken as suggested by line 33 of FIG. 2, showing the latch in closed position;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 3, but showing the latch in open position;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 6, 7, 8, are fragmentary sectional views taken as suggested by lines 66, 7-7, and 88 respectively, of FIG. 2; and

3,490,804 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 FIGS. 9, 10, are disassembled perspective views of the DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring by way of example to the drawing herewith, the invention may be illustrated in conjunction with a conventionally constructed metal casket ltl having a cover 12. It will of course be understood that the cover 12 will typically be hinged thereto along one side of the casket. As best shown in FIG. 8, the side walls of the casket terminate around their upper edges in an inturned flange portion as indicated at 14. The cover member also includes an inturned horizontal flange such as shown at 16 which overlaps the casket flange 14 and preferably extends beyond the casket side wall profile to approximately the extent shown in FIG. 8.

To provide for air-sealing the casket, the inturned flange 14 mounts a sealing device such as indicated at 18; for example as shown herein, the sealing member 18 may be of tubular cross sectional form, or may be formed of sponge-like resilient material, or the like. Thus, the seal device is adapted to be compressed between the flanges 14, 16, when the cover 12 is pulled down into tight closing position. Whereas the casket side wall and the cover and the intermediate sealing devices are all shown only fragmentarily herein, it will be appreciated that the front and rear walls and the end walls of the casket, as well as the cover and the sealing material, will all be continued uninterrupted perimetrally of the casket, to provide the desired casket closing and sealing effect.

The present invention relates to the latch device by which the cover 12 is secured to the receptacle 10. It will of course be appreciated that whereas only one latch of the invention is shown by way of example herein, any other desired number of latches may be employed. As illustrated, the latch includes a base plate portion 20 which is of generally channel shaped form, and is adapted to be secured at its back wall portion, as by screws 21, to the front wall of the casket. When installed, the upper level of the base plate 20 is preferably disposed slightly below the elevation of the top surface of the casket flange 14. The top and bottom flanges of the base plate 20 are designated 2224; the top flange 22 being apertured as indicated at 23 to accommodate movements therethrough of the latch keeper 25 and of the latch cam member 26. As best shown at FIG. 9 herein, the keeper 25 is of rectangular hanger form and includes a flat land portion 27 at its bottom end to provide a step against which the hold-down nose 28 of the cam 26 operates (FIGS. 5, 10). The keeper 25 is mounted by means of a base plate portion 29 thereof to the underside of the flange 16 of the cover 12. However, it should be understood that the keeper may be attached to the cover in any other suitable manner.

The cam 26 is rotatably mounted upon the base plate 20 by means of a pivot pin 30, and is driven to rotate upon the pin 30 by means of a slide link 32 which is slotted as indicated at 32a to accommodate in slide-pivoting manner a stud 33 extending from the cam (FIG. 8). The slide link 32 pivotally connects by means of a verticaly standing hinge pin 34 to the top and bottom flanges of the latch control lever 35. The lever 35 is channel shaped and dimensioned to slide-fit and enclose upon the base plate device 20 when in its latched or closed position. The hinge pin 34 extends adjacent its upper and lower ends through slot-shaped apertures as indicated at 3636 in the top and bottom flanges of the base member 20. Thus the control lever is both pivotally and slidably mounted on the base plate 20.

The latch lever 35 is operatively connected to the base plate 20 by means of a ladder-shaped link 40 comprising a pair of parallel arms 41-42 which are interconnected by an integrally formed preader portion 43. The link 40 is pivotally connected at one end by means of a vertically standing pin 44 to the upper and lower flange portions 46-48 of the lever 35. At its other end the link 40 is pivotally connected by means of a hinge pin 46 to the upper and lower flange portions 22-24 of the base member 20. Therefore, it will be appreciated that when the control lever 35 is manually grasped at the left hand end portion thereof as viewed in FIGS. 16 herewith, and pulled outwardly as best shown at FIG. 4, the link device 40 will cause the lever 35 to be laterally displaced towards the right. The slots 36-36 in the flanges 2424 of the base member accommodate the lateral displacements of the pin 34 incidental thereto while at the same time acting as the pivotal support for the lever 35 relative to the base member. Thus, the hinge pin 34 is displaced to the right as viewed in the drawing herewith, and coincidentally drags the slide link 32 to the right. This in turn causes the pin 33 on the cam 26 to rotate the latter on its pivot 30 so as to swing in counter-clockwise direction from its position as shown at FIG. 2 towards the unlatched position thereof as shown at FIG. 5. Reverse operation of the control lever 35 will of course reversely displace the slide link and cause the cam 26 to rotate in clockwise direction, as from its position as shown in FIG. 5 to its pull-down and holding position as shown in FIG. 2.

It is a particular feature of the present invention that the mechanism automatically operates to hold the actuating lever member in its fully closed position against accidental displacement therefrom. This effect is accomplished by the fact that the cam member 26 is so controlled by the lever and link mechanism that as the lever is pressed from its open position as shown at FIG. 4 towards its closed position as shown at FIG. 3, it passes through a dead center position at which time the cam displaces the keeper to the maximum extent of the pulldown operation against the spring action of the casket seal 18. Then, as the lever is pressed further into its fully closed position (as shown at FIG. 3) the cam 26 is slightly relaxed, thereby permitting the cover to rise an almost imperceptible amount so that the casket sealing effect is not disturbed. The base plate of the mechanism is provided with an inturned end portion 50 (FIGS. 4, 6) which acts as a stop to limit the inward motion of the lever. A silence pad of rubber or the like as shown at 52 is provided to quiet the latch locking action.

It will of course be apreciated that in order for the lever member 35 to be displaced outwardly such as to the position shown at FIG. 4, the cam 26 will have to be initially rotated in clockwise direction as shown at FIG. 2, thereby further depressing the cover 12 against the seal 18. This momentary resistance to outward movement of the lever 35 operates to prevent the latter from being accidentally dislodged from its fully closed position.

It is another feature of the latch mechanism of the present invention that by virtue of the linkage arrangement thereof, the mechanical advantage effects available to the operating lever 35 automatically increase as the cover is pulled downwardly against the resilient seal 18, and become maximum when the cover is fully closed and when the seal is exerting its maximum resistance to the cam motion. Thus the latch of the present invention is particularly characterized by its ease of operation and by the uniformity of the operating loads transmitted through the actuating lever.

Also, the mechanism provides for complete pull and hold operation in return for a minimum angular displacement of the actuating lever. For example, as illustrated at FIGS. 3, 4, the angular displacement of the lever need be no more than something in the neighborhood of and therefore the lever need not project obtrusively away from the casket when in its unlatched condition. Also, it is to be noted that the present invention provides a uniquely advantageous pull and hold-down latch mechanism particularly for burial caskets or the like because of the fact that the arc of displacement of the latch control lever is in a horizontal plane instead of in a vertical plane such as in the prior patents referenced hereinabove. In many cases such vertical swinging of the lever will cause interferences between the lever and the carrying rail hinges such as are conventionally positioned along the front side wall of the casket. Thus, it will be appreciated that the present invention provides a latch mechanism which is importantly improved in these respects.

It is still further a particular feature of the mechanism of the present invention that when it is mounted on a side panel portion of a casket as shown in the drawing herewith at FIGS. 1, 2, it nests compactly and unobtrusively in position just below the casket cover; thereby presenting to view only a clean line rectangular configuration of minimal dimensions. The finger grip opening is disposed behind the lever member per se, and therefore contributes no unsightly element to the side view configuration. Manual operation of the lever is in a horizontal plane, and the pull-push forces which are thereby transmitted to the casket structure are applied thereto in the region of the horizontal re-enforcing flange v14 which extends inwardly from the top edge of the side wall 10 (FIG. 8). Therefore, manual actuation of the latch mechanism imposes no distortion stresses against the casket structure.

Furthermore, the latch cam device 26 operates only in a substantially vertical direction against the keeper land portion 27; whereby it will be appreciated that operation of the latch never imposes any horizontally directed camming forces against the keeper such as would otherwise be transmitted to the casket cover. Inasmuch as the cover devices of such caskets are typically fabricated of relatively thin sheet metal or the like, they are easily distorted (with consequent disturbance of the intended sealing effect) when certain prior type latch mechanisms are used, as distinguished from the latch mechanism of the present invention.

It will of course be understood that whereas only one specific form of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail herein, various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A latch for detachably interconnecting adjacent edge portions of a container and cover therefor, said container and cover having opposed horizontal flange portions and a compressible gasket therebetween, said latch device comprising a base plate secured to the edge of said container and having top and bottom flange portions extending horizontally therefrom,

a cam rotatably mounted on said base plate and having a downwardly directed nose portion,

a keeper extending downwardly from said cover and disposed to extend therefrom when said cover is in closed position through an apertured portion of said top flange and alongside said base plate, said keeper having a land portion in alignment with downward movement of the nose portion of said cam,

a link member slidably pivoted to said cam at a position offset from the center of rotation of said cam,

a vertically standing pivot pin carried by said link member and extending at its opposite ends from said link member through longitudinally slotted portions of said top and bottom flange portions, and

a latch control lever pivotally connected at one end to said pivot pin and pivotally connected at its other end to one end of a swing link, said swing link being pivotally connected at its other end to said base plate.

2. A latch device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the parts are so dimensioned and arranged that when said lever member is pushed inwardly into vertical alignment beneath the edge of said cover member,

said cam draws said keeper downwardly into gasket compressing position while said lever assumes a past-center position relative to the axis of pivoting of said lever on said pivot pin, thereby locking said latch device in holding position.

3. A latch as set forth in claim 1 wherein said control lever is of channel section form including top and bottom flange portions adapted to cover and enclose said base plate and said cam and link members when said latch 10 is in its closed position.

4. A latch device as set forth in claim 3 wherein said top and bottom flange portions of said control lever are pivotally mounted on the opposite ends of said pivot pin.

5. A latch device as set forth in claim 4 wherein said 1;;

swing link is of ladder form encompassed within the profile of said control lever and pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the top and bottom flange portions respectively of said base plate and said control lever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,035,862 5/1962 Phelps 292302 3,145,040 8/1964 Phelps 292304 3,151,375 10/1964 Schevernell 292302 X 3,262,726 7/1966 Phelps 292-196 RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner EDWARD J. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 292-97 

